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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. The water is too ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. spring — the season
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. saw — the tool
  6. plane — a tool
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. saw — the tool
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. cold — an illness
  15. mine — for digging
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. spring — a coil
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. spring — of water
  23. lie — to recline
  24. cold — not warm

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com